The carriage ride to the Royal Palace felt like traveling toward my own execution.
Except this time, I'm the executioner.
This time, I'm the one holding the blade.
This time, everything is DIFFERENT.
I stared out the window at the gleaming white marble buildings of Luminaris, and my mind kept circling back to the same thought:
This is THE ball.
This is where it happened.
This is where Original Isabel's life ended.
Not literally—that came later, in seven different horrific ways depending on which route the player chose—but THIS was where her spirit broke.
The Royal Ball.
Day Four.
Six months before the heroine arrives.
Six months before the wedding announcement that will trap me forever.
I could see it so clearly, like watching a movie I'd seen a hundred times:
Original Isabel arriving in a beautiful gown, desperate to prove herself as a proper noble lady. Desperate to be a good fiancée. Desperate to make Prince Aldric see her as worthy.
She tried SO HARD.
She smiled. She curtsied. She said all the right things.
She played by THEIR rules.
And what did she get for it?
Wine.
Thrown in her face by the Crown Prince himself.
In front of the ENTIRE court.
I closed my eyes and I could FEEL it—the shock, the humiliation, the wine dripping down her face while nobles laughed and whispered and branded her a disgrace.
"This is what happens when dark magic corrupts nobility."
"House Raven should be ashamed."
"She's a villainess. A MONSTER."
And Aldric—perfect, righteous, self-satisfied Aldric—had turned away from her ruined dress and her tears and spent the rest of the evening flirting with beautiful noble ladies.
Lady Vivienne Ashford with her golden hair.
Lady Seraphine Brightwell with her radiant smile.
Every eligible woman in the kingdom EXCEPT his fiancée.
Making it absolutely clear that Isabel Nyx Raven was beneath him. Unworthy. Disgusting.
That was the moment.
That was where Original Isabel's downfall began.
Not with dark magic or forbidden knowledge or corruption.
With HUMILIATION.
With being made to feel worthless in front of everyone who mattered.
After that night, she'd spiraled. Became desperate. Started using dark magic not for power but for REVENGE. Started making mistakes. Started giving them exactly the evidence they needed to brand her a villainess and execute her.
Every route ended in death.
Every single one.
Because this night broke something inside her that never healed.
"You're thinking too much," Nyx observed from my shoulders.
"I'm thinking exactly the right amount," I said, opening my eyes.
Because I'm NOT going to let that happen.
I'm NOT going to be humiliated.
I'm NOT going to give Aldric the satisfaction of breaking me.
Tonight, I'm going to INVERT everything.
Tonight, HE'S the one who gets destroyed.
Tonight, I become the predator instead of the prey.
The carriage pulled up to the palace entrance, and I felt my heart start pounding.
Six months until the wedding announcement.
Six months until I'm trapped in a marriage to a man who despises me.
Six months to build enough power that I can ESCAPE this fate.
Or rewrite it entirely.
Starting NOW.
I stepped out of the carriage, and the palace guards' eyes widened when they saw Nyx coiled around my shoulders.
Good.
Be afraid.
Everyone should be afraid.